Health Minister Edwin Poots has said that he has no plans to commission an independent review into the death of Dungiven firefighter Joe McCloskey.

Speaking this week, the Minister said he was not aware of any fresh evidence on which to base a further review into the dad-of-five’s death.

He made the comments after East Derry MLA Cathal Ó hOisín asked him if he was considering an independent review into Mr McCloskey’s death.

The 50 year-old was tackling a blaze at the Gorteen House Hotel in Limavady on Halloween night in 2003.

The storeroom roof he was working on collapsed dropping him into the flames below.

He died in hospital a short time later.

Speaking in Stormont this week, Mr Poots said: “I have met with Mrs McCloskey and her family and listened carefully to their concerns about Joe’s death. I have every sympathy with them and genuinely feel for their loss.

“That said there has already been three separate investigations, into the circumstances of this tragic incident, and none of these was able to provide a definitive conclusion. Two of these investigation were independent. I am not aware of any fresh evidence on which to base a further review and it is with regret therefore that I advise I have no plans to commission one.”

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